Spotify Is Ditching Its Music Upload Feature for Independent Artists

A Spotify feature that allowed independent artists to directly upload their music to Spotify with relative ease will soon no longer be a thing.

Monday, the streaming service rather unceremoniously announced the end of the feature (which was in beta) and urged participating artists to keep an eye out for more info to come on alternative distribution methods.

"Thank you to the artists who participated in our upload beta," a Spotify rep said in a news release. "We're incredibly proud to have played a small part in the music they released. Spotify wouldn't be what it is today without artists and labels who are willing to collaborate with us to build a better experience for creators and listeners."

Among the feedback Spotify says it bagged during the beta period was the company realization that the "most impactful way" it can better digital distribution is through partnerships with distro-focused brands that already have a track record with this sort of thing. The rep also said Monday that the streaming service's Spotify for Artists feature will continue being updated to provide creators with additional catalog enhancement tools, i.e. the previously available playlist submission feature and audience insight stats.

Spotify will cease the acceptance of Spotify for Artists direct uploads at the end of July, meaning participants will need to move their catalogs to other distribution providers. For more on how the soon-defunct feature worked, click here.

In an ideal creators climate, there would be far less headachery involved with the process of independent artists getting their work onto streaming platforms.